quote:

TROUBLE O'BILL

The Before Times posted:

I honestly hope I see the headline


in the coming months

just for the pun lols

Trapezium Dave posted:

https://twitter.com/politicsabc/status/1091187054757634048

hiddenmovement posted:

The weird thing is these sorts of guys are usually barely employed internet creatures. Where do you find the time to stalk and harass people online if you have a full time job?

Anidav posted:

Weird how Bill Shorten transformed from is a Checks notes cardboard cut out nobody who has outdone Stephen Bradbury into by becoming the stable progressive last hope for Australia by default.

hiddenmovement posted:

The weird thing is these sorts of guys are usually barely employed internet creatures. Where do you find the time to stalk and harass people online if you have a full time job?

quote:

A former long-serving police officer has been jailed for six months for illegally accessing the personal details of almost 100 women to determine if they were "suitable" dates.

Adrian Trevor Moore was a 28-year veteran of WA Police and was nominated as police officer of the year in 2011.
The former senior constable pleaded guilty to 180 charges of using a secure police database to access the information of 92 women he had met, or interacted with, on dating websites including Tinder and Plenty of Fish.
A third of the women were checked by Moore multiple times over several years.
One victim's details were accessed 13 times over six years.

...

Moore was also fined $2,000 for possessing images of bestiality.

Trapezium Dave posted:

https://twitter.com/politicsabc/status/1091187054757634048

Whitlam posted:

Trapezium Dave posted:

https://twitter.com/politicsabc/status/1091187054757634048

Turks posted:

Parties were a mistake. All seats should be independents, with ministerial positions decided by gladitorial combat.

drunkill posted:

Oh, I bet they love they held out on this issue for over a year, so it now pops up right as the unofficial election cycle begins. Amazing timing.

gay picnic defence posted:

loving hell, that’s some pretty thinly veiled contempt.

gay picnic defence posted:

loving hell, that’s some pretty thinly veiled contempt.

Anidav posted:

I hope you're wrong too

Lid posted:

Queensland state MP Jason Costigan says he won’t quit parliament despite being expelled by the Liberal National party in the wake of a second harassment allegation levelled against him.

The Queensland LNP’s state executive released a statement following a meeting on Friday announcing Costigan, the MP for the seat of Whitsundays, had been expelled from the party.

But on Twitter, Costigan wrote that he would not leave the parliament.
“I will NOT be resigning!” he wrote, alongside the hashtag “costo2020”.

A meeting of the party’s state executive was called after Costigan was earlier suspended from the party after a harassment complaint was lodged against him by a member of the public.

The party’s state executive agreed unanimously to expel Costigan from the party.

JBP posted:

The dossier alleged a range of misconduct on Ms Bhathal's behalf, including bullying and intimidation. Among the allegations, Ms Bhathal was said to have stood in front of someone at a press conference, to have unfriended someone on Facebook and to have missed a deadline to have a leaflet printed.

Lid posted:

Costigan held an extraordinary press conference on Thursday in which he admitted meeting the woman but denied any wrongdoing and threatened legal action. He said that he had been invited to stay at a home belonging to the grandparents of the woman at the centre of the complaint while on holidays.

“I had no shirt on and almost straight away after introducing myself, she didn’t expect me to be there and I didn’t expect anyone to turn up, I went and put one of my favourite Cowboys jerseys on,” he said. “Nothing bad happened, nothing sinister happened.

“Yeah, we took some selfies. How many of you people know I love a selfie? I love a photo, you all know that ... [I] put the old arm around. She didn’t look anything in terms of intimidation, or concern or worry.

“She was happy as Larry from my recollection.”

He said he had consulted a defamation lawyer.

“These are baseless allegations and we will be pursuing the matter through the courts like there is no tomorrow,” Costigan said.

Brown Paper Bag posted:

I don’t know why I just remembered this but who was that Liberal MP who admitted loving his wife in his Parliament House office in the late 80s/early 90s

Pile Of Garbage posted:

Wtf is this vote about?

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsAust/status/1091306499412963329

quote:

Melburnians could be drinking water from Victoria's desalination plant – or even be put on water restrictions – if a fire on the banks of a major water catchment east of the city is not quickly brought under control, the Water Minister has warned.

Lightning sparked a bushfire about a week ago in thick forest in the Baw Baw National Park, about three hours’ drive east of Melbourne.

Tough terrain has made fighting the fire almost impossible, and the blaze has slowly spread to the edge of the Thomson Reservoir, the largest of Melbourne's water catchments. The Thomson makes up about 60 per cent of Melbourne's total storage capacity.

Ash and runoff from the fire was placing that water supply at risk, Water Minister Lisa Neville told media on Friday, soon after taking a flight over the blaze.

“This fire absolutely has a risk to impact on our water supply in the short and long-term, and that’s why we’re throwing absolutely everything at this,” Ms Neville said. “It is on the banks of the Thomson Dam.”

Melbourne Water is already working on ways to contain the runoff, and is pumping water out of the Thomson into other dams.

In a worst-case scenario, if firefighters could not contain the blaze, the minister forecast ordering 150 gigalitres from the state's desalination plant in Wonthaggi to make up for any lost supply. Water restrictions could also be considered, she said.

“We have a good back-up. That’s why we have got the desal. Everyone be assured, right now, the water supply coming out of the Thomson is absolutely safe.”

Doctor Spaceman posted:

https://twitter.com/tfswebb/status/1091450213196357633

JBP posted:

This is dumb but I hope they actually do start panic selling.

Lid posted:

Bourke street guy is never getting parole

Periphery posted:

When have investors ever not panic sold assets when they get scared?

JBP posted:

This is dumb but I hope they actually do start panic selling.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/the-longer-i-hold-the-more-i-lose-fongo-takes-hold-of-home-sellers-20190201-p50v43.html posted:

After 10 years investing in the property Andres Vargas has keenly felt the market's sharp turn in the last 18 months.

He sold one house near Mt Druitt for a tidy profit last year and has now decided to sell his remaining Sydney investment in Green Valley, west of Liverpool.
Andres Vargas at his Green Valley property.

Andres Vargas at his Green Valley property.Credit:James Alcock

"I got it valued at $619,000 by the bank when I was applying for my home loan a year and a half ago," Mr Vargas said. "I've now seen similar properties going up for sale for $540,000, so there is a clear 10 per cent drop there alone.

"It's quite scary. The longer I hold onto it, the more I'm losing."

Welcome to the world of FONGO (fear of not getting out) for property vendors, a market sapping phenomenon which has replaced the FOMO (fear of missing out) for buyers that had driven values upwards.

New figures out on Friday showing prices tumbling sharply in January led down by a 1.7 per cent drop in Melbourne and a 1.4 per cent fall in Sydney.

AMP Capital's chief economist, Shane Oliver, who is tipping a 10 per cent fall this financial year in both Sydney and Melbourne, said the overall economy could be hit as people moved to offload their properties before prices fell even further.

"Over the last 12 months we have come to expect even deeper falls in house prices with the tightening in credit conditions and a shift from "fear of missing out" or FOMO towards a "fear of not getting out" or FONGO by some property market participants being major drivers," he said.

Mr Vargas plans to put his sale proceeds towards a lead-tracking startup for businesses he has founded which he felt was a more certain bet than the property market. He has a very different mindset to that which he had several years ago.

"Everyone pretty much said, every seven years, seven and a half years you'd see your property doubling," the Sydney entrepreneur said.

"I can't find any good opportunities anywhere in Sydney in terms of growth."

Mr Vargas also named Labor's plan to reduce the capital gains tax discount and the banks' decision to tighten lending standards on interest-only loans in the wake of the royal commission as factors that fortified his determination to sell.

"Rather than getting more greedy, if you've got those rewards to take out of it, just take it before the government takes it," Mr Vargas said.

But Mr Vargas is not getting out of the property game entirely. He has land in the country which he said does not have as far to fall, and a family home in Sydney he shares with his fiance.

If you've got those rewards to take out of it, just take it before the government takes it.
Andres Vargas

Kobi Boaron had more riding on the fate of the property market than most other buyers.

Boaran bought an entire 12 unit apartment block in St Kilda East in inner Melbourne with his business partner at the height of the property market with a plan to renovate and sell.

But when they were ready to sell just seven months later, the market had come crashing down.

“We had no choice but to sell,” Mr Boaron says. “We were worried about the prices coming down even further.”
Kobi Boaran with business partner Sagi Mitlin (left) bought the St Kilda apartment last year as a "buy, renovate and sell" project to make some profit.

Kobi Boaran with business partner Sagi Mitlin (left) bought the St Kilda apartment last year as a "buy, renovate and sell" project to make some profit. Credit:Eddie Jim

Mr Boaran, a mortgage broker, said he and business partner Sagi Mitlin, together with other investors, bought the 1960s apartment block for about $5 million in March last year, and splashed a further $1.2 million on renovations.

An apartment valuation in August came in at $650,000, but by October the two apartments fetched $550,000 and $570,000.

“I knew it would happen; I saw all the reasons for it to happen … but what surprised me was how quick it changed and how quick it turned down,” Mr Boaron, a mortgage broker, says.

Mr Boaron had hoped his group could make a $1 million profit but if they sold all 12 units in today’s climate, they would only break even. So the group are holding onto five until property prices start rising again.

We didn’t want to wait and lose more money.
Kobi Boaron

“If we sold two months earlier we would’ve made more money, if we sold six months earlier we would’ve made a lot of money, but we’ll make the money in two or three years’ time now,” he says.

“Even though the market turned on us, we didn’t lose money and it wasn’t a disaster. When we sold the apartment for $550,000 we realised we were selling it under the market but we did it to secure our lending and we didn’t want to wait and lose more money.”

hooman posted:

Lol if you think Shorten is progressive. He's just not a regressive like most of the LNP.

Lid posted:

Bourke street guy is never getting parole

He sidestepped responsibility for the murders by blaming the Queen, the Federal Government, God and “girlfriend troubles”.

He justified his decision to speed through Bourke Street mall in a stolen car because “I was in a bad head space” and defended his decision to accelerate as bodies bounced off his windscreen because he was following a “vision” that demanded he run people over.

“I am a victim of government oppression. It is because of oppression that six people died. Oppression is the root cause of terrorism and crime,” he said.

“The government should take all responsibility. I am not evil, I am not a terrorist. I am a freedom fighter.”

hambeet posted:

There's a small bushfire near me in the Lerderderg State Park and I wondered why they didn't have more assets on hand to fight it.

Didn't realise there was that huge one going on over in the East.

GotLag posted:

Water restrictions should be a matter of course